When basketball goals are set up, such as, on a playground, the netting may or may not be attached to the rim. Even when the netting is attached, it tends to deteriorate and lose its effectiveness over time and must be replaced. However, replacement of the nets is difficult because of the height of the goal and the need to loop or wind the upper cord portions of the netting through netholders on the goal.
Numerous appoaches have been taken to make provision for some type of a releasable net which can be removed from the goal when not in use and, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,579,312 to G. D. Garvey and 2,199,609 to J. H. Bennett disclose releasable straps and the like for direct but releasable attachment of a net to a basketball rim. However, both Garvey and Bennett require individual connection and release of each cord or string of the net and therefore in practice is quite time-consuming both in attaching to and releasing from the rim. Other patents, such as, those to K. J. Mahoney U.S. Pat. No. 4,353,548 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,085,800 to A. J. Holstad show unitary types of net support members to facilitate attachment of a net to a goal. Also, Holstad discloses the use of an elongated tool to permit attachment of a practice ring to a rim but also requires that the tool be permanently affixed to a lower end of the practice ring and does not provide for a unitary type of a net attachment device which will effectively duplicate the standard type of net but can be quickly attached and released.
Other patents of interest in this area are U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,544,453 to H. C. Harbison, 2,489,174 to J. H. Cunningham, 3,105,683 to H. E. Kimbrell, 3,204,957 to W. H. Logue, 3,313,539 to L. Michael, 3,814,359 to A. J. Powell, 4,082,269 to R. L. Hill, 4,145,044 to L. T. Wilson et al and 4,241,916 to R. J. Palm.